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Helmut Marko: “I told him: ‘There are 50 engineers working on this engine and they can’t sort it out. You’re a top driver, it’s up to you. You have to do it.’ If he can’t sort out the car, the easiest thing is the driver. He has to raise his game.”

Luca di Montezemolo: “Formula One isn’t working. It’s declining because [the Federation International d’Automobile, the sport’s governing body] have forgotten that people watch the racing for the excitement. Nobody watches racing for the efficiency, come on.”

Mattiacci: “We are very angry with ourselves, but we have no intention of giving up. We have improved since the start of the year, but every step forward we make must be looked at in the context of what our rivals have done.”

Romain Grosjean: “Our target is to be part of the battle of fighting for points positions so we need to ensure we don’t have any more problems with the car. We’re making definite progress with pace, how the car feels and generally with reliability too, so it was frustrating that there was an issue with the rear wing. It’s another lesson learnt and we will come back stronger for Austria and beyond.”

Hamilton: “I caught up before and I can catch up again. It’s going to take another four wins to make the difference so I’m going to do my best to get those results. Right now, I’m just looking ahead to the next race in Austria and another chance to catch up to the lead.”

Comment of the day

The main reason is that F1 is too expensive and does not give proper return to manufacturers for loads of money, that has to be invested. Of course, you can spend 50 million pounds a year, but the car with such investment will be at the back of the grid and will damage brand’s name.

On the other hand, does F1 really need manufacturers? The biggest teams in F1 are manufacturers (even Red Bull could be considered that way, because they are the main Renault team). Without those, we would have such iconic and pure racing teams as Williams or Lotus fighting for world championships, and without spending enormous amounts of money. Now such teams like Mercedes and Red Bull pour buckets of money and success for them is almost granted, while others have no chance, unless they spend equal or even bigger amounts of money.

So, in my opinion, F1 would be better off without major manufacturers.@osvaldas31

Happy birthday!

On this day in F1

The Belgian Grand Prix ended in drama 50 years ago today. Dan Gurney led until the final four laps, when he pitted to refuel only to find there was none waiting for him.

Graham Hill took over the lead but ran out of fuel, and Bruce McLaren took over for him only for an electrical problem to halt his Cooper within sight of the flag. A surprised Jim Clark took the chequered flag first – and then also ran out of fuel!

100 comments on Vettel told to ‘raise his game’ by Marko

I see Montezemolo is at it again. Thing is, if it was any other team, it would simply be a shame. But as it’s Ferrari, the risk is the FIA acts hastily to appease them, and in doing so damages F1 severely enough for it to collapse.
Luca also needs to catch up to the modern world. Efficiency is the way forward across all motorsport; it’s inevitable that the petrol will one day run out, so we need to use what we have remaining much better.

+1.
The article says that Ferrari released a statement distancing themselves from his comments & with regards to the Ferrari entering topline sports car racing rumours, LdM said “we cannot do sports-car racing and Formula One. It’s not possible.” & Ferrari responded “there’s nothing to stop Ferrari” from competing in both. Given the mixed messages coming from the red team, it’s not much wonder that they can’t build an integrated car.

I am not at all a fan of Ferrari or Mr. M. But in this case, I agree with him. I watch F1 for the excitement. The race we just witnessed in Montreal is best race this season when it comes to entertainment value. Due the the first seven laps being completed behind the safety care allowed the drivers to throw away the whole “saving fuel” excuse and pushed. We saw drivers with failing brakes stay out on the track, we had overtaking, we had full grandstands, and we had a new winner. It was far more exciting to see multiple cars from different teams pushing for the top three steps.
NOTHING about the Montreal race was about “efficiency”. I have friends that never watch F1 because they say racing is boring, but I made them sit and watch and they all thanked me for it.
Sports about entertainment. Entertainment is meant to make us excited. It is meant to make us forget about our mundane lives for a few hours. Watching cars and drivers being told to save their engine and save their fuel, and save their tires is not entertainment. Efficiency is something you work on in a lab and on an empty race car track with an amateur stunt driver.
If they want to limit the power of the engine, fine, but don’t punish the fans by making us watch boring parades being touted as “races”.
Aside from Montreal, this F1 season has been a complete let down from an entertainment point of view. And anyone who says that these regulations are good for the sport are kidding themselves. It would not surprise me at all if it was discovered that Mercedes “bought” the season from the FIA under the table in order show off how far ahead THEIR hybrid technology is.
This season is a joke and a mockery to the world of racing.

This season really is sad. We were lucky in Bahrain & Montreal has a good chance of producing good races.

People will continue to support this DRS, Pirelli tire saving, fuel saving, don’t give the teams enough money so they go broke, lawnmower sounding engines because it’s branded as F1. Even though it’s not anywhere near the F1 we began watching & used to love.

Some people say the sport is changing to attract the playstation generation? Where is the proof that “the playstation generation” asked for these changes & that F1 needed these changes to attract younger viewers. Bernie is in his 80’s & has no interest in changing the way F1 is run in ways to make it more available to more people via FREE TV or internet.

So in the last twenty years of Formula 1 they have never had to save fuel during the race?
I am not sure where you’ve been, but there was a hell of a lot of fuel saving going on last year, and even more tyre saving.
Last year they had a very mature engine and they had a maximum amount of fuel they could use during the race. Very often they didn’t fill the cars to maximum because they expected to do some fuel saving during the race, just as they had done in previous years, even during the refueling years they saved fuel for optimum pit strategy.
Its long been established on many circuits its faster to run with less fuel, and do some fuel saving than it is to run with maximum fuel and try and drive flat out. Power to weight cost is to high especially at the start of a grand prix, not to mention the increased tyre wear.
Sorry mate the fuel saving argument is nearly non existent this year. Have you seen any one run out of fuel yet?
Lap times are down this year and its nothing to do with fuel saving, its all to do with less down force and too harder compound tyres.
Any Motorsport that involves endurance also involves fuel, tyre and car management. Even for a sprint race, deciding on how much fuel to use is a critical component.

The problem is the TV shows the fuel remaining percentage for the cars during the race, i believe this is from the FIA feed data which is a measurement of the fuel used. What it doesn’t show is how much fuel was put in at the start of the race.

Another point to show is the race duration. Last years race duration was 1:32:09.143,
This years race was 1:39:12.830, so it took 7 minutes longer. But remember the safety car came out this year for a number of laps. The safety car did not come out at all in 2013.

I’ve been watching my F1 season review DVDs over the past few weeks and certainly since 2000 theres a constant theme of fuel and/or tyre saving mentioned in every season. And even the motor mates on high rotation on late night TV indicate its nothing new. The difference, I believe, is that now it’s an “engineered” facet of the game and that’s the problem.

But so was having a 150kg limit last year. The only difference is this year they have designed the engines to meet the new limitation of 100kg.
I just dont understand why people see it as a problem this year.
Has any race this year been decided due to people running out of or low on fuel?

@irejag I agree with LdM and you on some things, but definitely not all. Montreal was exciting. But I have also been more enthralled with the Mercedes rivalry this year, than I have been with F1 in general for several years. Perhaps it is because I don’t mind the change in the dominant team in F1 and was not that much of an RBR or SV fan. Different people are going to have different takes on the whole thing and thank goodness or wouldn’t life be boring.

I don’t see why the cars can’t be efficient, as they are, and fuel be taken out if the equation so the drivers can push as we all would like. Even having fuel concerns removed the cars will still be burning way way less than ever. And F1 should be a sprint, not an endurance affair…that’s WEC/Lemans.

I also think this is early days in this formula and things will evolve. I think LdM is not saying anything many haven’t also said or thought, but nothing is written in stone, and we and LdM know that, so I think he is just opining and cage rattling. Probably almost all of us would be fine with some tweaks and probably expect them.

As to Mercedes buying their position, I think that’s a pretty bold comment and I don’t buy it, pardon the pun, but I do know Ferrari carries the most weight in F1, always has, and it has made them the huge entity that they are globally, with incredible history and successes.

I hope some things change too, and I have never liked hearing when drivers aren’t enjoying the driving. But I also think there’s a ton of room for this to be tweaked into something better, and LdM cannot complain about his opportunity to do something about his team’s situation and preferably weigh in with the teams and F1 and FIA in a constructive way to progress F1. I’d like to see them do away with so much stress on fuel and tire conservation while it should still be a small element of the story. No DRS, but reduced aero and greater mechanical grip, and certainly no double points which for me carries the risk of truly making a mockery of the season if one will be deemed to have been robbed and the other will have only won because…

I understand your point of view as well except that I would rather see a bigger emphasis on aerodynamic grip over mechanical. Enzo Ferrari once said, “aerodynamics are for people who can’t build a good engine.” And in my opinion, Renault powered teams are at a major disadvantage because of their engine, so why not let them try to make up for it using aerodynamics.
Aero packages can also greatly increase a cars “efficiency” on the race track. The innovation has been removed from the sport and I personally do not like that.
Mercedes may have the better engine this year, but Red Bull has Adrian Newey, and yet they are not allowed to fully utilize his skills.

There are four teams with the same Mercedes engine. The Silver Arrows are in front not because of their engine, but because they have been able to marry the whole package to work better than anyone else
If it were all about the engines and nothing else, then how come Williams, Mclaren and Force India are not filling the 2nd, 3rd and 4th spots on the standings?
Adrain Newey does not have exclusive rights to having the most aerodynamically dominant car. While the Red Bull may well be the best in downforce, it does not mean the the Mercs are too far behind. I suggest they have a pretty good car.

What you asking for is a handicap system to the disadvantage of the team that has done the best job in creating the best package under the current rules. If we had applied the same logic, the they should have let Ferrari and Mecedes powered teams develop their engines during the Red Bull dominance to counter act Red Bulls superior downforce.

But would Luca bring it up if Ferrari was leading the WDC/WCC? I think not. I’m sorry, but I just can’t take this seriously. Ferrari is having, once again, a miserable year. Now who’s fault is that? The FIA or Ferrari? It’s the same ol’ story with them, if they don’t get their way, they’ll throw a hissy fit and threaten to leave Formula 1.

I wouldn’t want Ferrari to leave Formula 1, I think it’ll hurt Formula 1 in the long run. But this is ridiculous. Instead, they should get their heads down, build a proper engine and car and be in the mix for podiums.

yeah, its THAT time of year again @receprouk, Luckily for Ferrari their actual team boss seems to have a more to the point attetude of being upset with themselves for not managing this transition well.

same thing I thought. Apart from his two DNF’s due to reliability he has had some solid finishes. And yes he is being outpaced by his teammate by the moment but Vettel will bounce back especially after Ricciardo’s win last weekend

Marko is not referring to reliability problems; there’s nothing that Vettel can do about those. He is referring to things that Vettel wants changed in the car, but the engineers can’t change. He is basically telling Vettel that they won’t/can’t get the car to behave the way he wants it, so he needs to adapt.

There are 10000 other factors than downforce which relates to “behaving like he wants”. You simply can’t quantify something like that to a word as simple as downforce. Feel of the power steering? Which Kimi whines about all the time for example. Brakes, thottle map, turn-in response, mid-corner balance, how transitions between mid-corner and exit are feelt through the car.. and so on and so on.. It’s not as simple as saying “he’s missing the downforce”.

Pure conjecture; no one seems to have mentioned how having a new born child might be affecting his concentration (I am pretty sure it would affect most people to some degree). I am surprised pundits have not brought this up. I am not saying it is or is not but I am surprised I have not heard more people mention it.

Is he the only current/active f1 driver with a wife and children?

I also remember in the Senna documentary (I think) how enzo Ferrari was know to dislike f1 drivers who settled down to start a family, as he felt it blunted their concentration, commitment and ambition.

More than a a better driver, it made him take less risks and be more cool headed inside that cockpit. He was already a very fast driver. But yeah, globally, it made him a more complete driver, a better driver.

Vettel had certainly been at the top of his game for a number of years, I suspect that no sportsperson can maintain a near-flawless level of performance indefinately. I do wonder if there are other factors at play though. As you say he’s a father now, I’ve always thought would affect any racer sub-conciously and I doubt it helps that his great friend and hero lies in a coma. Hamilton has always been candid about how his life outside the car affects his performance, I doubt Vettel is any different.

Drivers usually waited till the end of their career to have children, since F1 had a lot of deaths until around the mid 80s.
The risk is always there, and that’s why generally you don’t have many active drivers starting families.

Seb keeps shut about his private life (one thing I like about him) and the media has picked up on that and they don’t use his private life to derive something from it. It’s quite different from HAM back in 2011, when he struggled everyone was quick to jump on all the shenanigans as “excuse”/”explanation”.
The comments from Marko surprise me though – he is right that he needs to up his game, but I’d encourage my drivers to stay persistent with feedback, because if something seems impossible to improve then it’s also a potential area where you can innovate and get an advantage over competitors, because they might give up on these improvements too.

according to Horner, they tried for 4 races to give Seb what he wanted. Horner said if they could, it would result in finding some serious time. But the engine’s just not able to deliver what they need. So they’ve talked to Seb that he needs to adapt at this point.

I actually find this a good sign, both for Red Bull and Vettel. Critics of Vettel always make him out to be petulant, etc., and that he doesn’t listen to his team, etc. But this is an excellent example of Vettel listening to the team. He pushed for something that would be a great development, and the team tried but then told him basically “no”. And we can see from Spain forward, that he’s certainly improved his driving of the car.

See also this quote from the 1994 Canadian GP flashback article posted the other day: “Ferrari having lobbied hard for the introduction of refuelling to make them more competitive.” Twenty years have passed & Ferrari are still issuing veiled threats about leaving F1 when the rules don’t suit them. It would be amusing enough if the FIA weren’t so ready to dance when Ferrari start playing the same old tune…

I say it’s time we break out the GPWC again. Sure, BMW and Ford might no longer be in F1, nor Toyota or the works Renault team, but we can have a little fun, can we? Luca could probably dust off his calendar proposal with more European races (wasn’t he hyping Mugello the other day?) and a bigger focus on engines (what’s that, F1 is already doing this?) and of course less costs (Darn it Lassie, stop barking to remind the kids Ferrari is one of the biggest opponents of the cost cap in F1!).

Sometimes I feel I should start a group called ‘Tifosi against Luca di Montezemolo’, start a kickstarter for his retirement fee and just get someone in there who doesn’t think blind threats still work.

I disagree with the COTD. Big manufacturers are what makes the sport as fast as it is. Renault’s mass damper, Red Bull’s EBD, Honda’s (sure, at the time Brawn’s, but totaly developed by Honda) Double Deck Diffuser; or even sheer dominance, like Ferrari in the early 00’s or Mercedes’ current one.

Many other manufacturers didnt achieve near as much success, but they kept the field competitive: Sauber-BMW and Williams-BMW, Toyota, Jaguar.

I’m sorry, but if we got rid of manufacturers, the whole sport would be a whole lot less interesting. The whole “lower costs” is also fake, Mclren are one of the biggest spenders, close to Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes.

@austus what I don’t like about F1 is that innovation is always banned, while “smart solutions” as DRS and double points stay.
Don’t forget the McLaren’s F-duct alongside EBD, Double Diffuser, Mass Damper, engine mapping, Mercedes DDRS, the aero packages of 2007 and 2008 (“the viking horns”, the “dove wings”) that would make F1 even more of a clash of masterminds giving toys to the best drivers of the world.

I have no issues the limitations on engines to certain extent (I don’t like the whole Hybrid thing they have this year) but I still think that the teams should be allowed to be innovative with aerodynamics.

For me aerodynamics drives up costs and kills racing with the dirty air effect, unless they added enhanced DRS and that to me would be terrible. Less aero, more mechanical grip, equals closer racing to me. Sorry Mr Newey. But I’m not saying no aero though…just less. And better tires that allow the drivers more laps of push. Tire and fuel conservation and DRS playing a hand in an attempt at mixing things up, shouldn’t be the solution to create the racing that aero dependency and it’s processions prevents.

Agreed. without the manufacturers, the appeal of F1 will certainly be lost. You may have names like Williams and McLaren and Lotus(Not Lotus, but still), but these names would never bring newer audiences, especially from regions outside Europe.

Luca wrecked Ferrari’s F1 program by trying to make it all-Italian. He should stop blaming other people for his own poor work. He displays a sense of entitlement worthy of the old aristocrat he is. In the 19th century this attitude might have possessed some potency, but now it is just childish. And he wants to run the country!

F1 would lose some prestige if Ferrari left, but the podium ceremonies would look the same without them. Moreover, I think Luca will be removed from Ferrari long before Ferrari remove themselves from F1.

Most of us were already thinking what Marko said there. It’s obviously not as simple as that. Vettel has spent a lot of time with his engineers over the past years figuring out how exactly to create a driving style and car to win championships with. It is a huge advantage for DR to come in with an almost blank slate and understand the new car for what it is and not what it should be. This also gives Vettel the opportunity to learn and grow, as well as the rest of the team. Ferrari, more than anyone, needed what DR is providing for Red Bull. Does Ferrari realistically think that a continual restructuring and reshuffling of the best engineers in the world will somehow produce a different result? Time for some fresh blood, Team Red.

@alebelly74 well said… How do F1 teams hire new engineers? Do they go to universities and pick the best ones in Aeronautics or Engine Design? Do applicants send a “typical CV”? Are F1 teams looking for them in other single-seater categories? no idea for me because I’m on the other side of the world :P

To be honest I don’t think Vettel has been doing anywhere near as badly as some like to make out, Especially over the last few races.

He outqualified Ricciardo in Canada & was ahead of him & faster than him for most, if not all of the race. It was only the pit strategy which got Ricciardo infront & Vettel instantly caught him & was able to run on his gearbox until Ricciardo passed Perez when his brakes started to fail.

Vettel was ahead of Ricciardo at Monaco until the car failed.

He had car problems in qualifying at Spanish Gp & qualified down the field yet was faster than Daniel pretty much all race, Came through to finish 4th only what 15-20 seconds behind Dan?

Vettel had his struggles early on thats true, But its important not to forget that he had no testing (Ricciardo got 1 good day in the final test) & had problems throughout the Melbourne weekend which put him further behind Daniel in terms of figuring out the car & even then if we look at Malaysia Seb was right there on the pace.

Dan has done a fine job, Better than I think many were expecting him to but the talk of Seb been shown up as a fraud or that he’s somehow been thrashed or well of the pace all year is simply not true, Especially as I say the past few races where if anything he’s been the quicker of the 2 red bull cars in the races.

Man sometimes you gotta face the reality, even considering every excuse you make for Vettel you are still left with 2 equal performing drivers over the course of the season.
Shouldn’t the 4xWDC at age of 27 and in his sixth year with a team be a cut above than Ricciardo?
For reference Button, Alonso, Grosjean, are doing what was expected from them against their teammates, Vettel isn’t.

You are missing the point when referring to other drivers. For example, Räikkönen is a world champion in a situation more akin to Vettel’s than Daniel’s in terms of relative car charceteristics to previous seasons. Magnussen is a complete rookie – not a driver with nearly three years experience. Maldonado doesn’t even bear comparison to Ricciardo – you know that.

@philby: This argument about drivers needing time to adapt to new teams is tiring. Vettel immediately was on it with RedBull in 2009 alongside the experienced Webber. Equally silly is the argument that Ricciardo has spend less time in a RedBull car than Vettel. Whilst this may true, this is no disadvantage as the drivers can learn a lot virtual via simulators.

I don’t get where all this whining about F1 2014 is coming from as the racing has been great at every race.

Every race has featured good levels of overtaking, Every race has featured close racing & unlike the past few years DRS/Tyres have not played too big a role.

I personally have enjoyed every race so far this year, Far more than I have the past few seasons. I think the races is better & the overall spectacle of watching them is also better due to the drivers actually having to drive the cars more due to the less downforce, More torque & harder tyres.

People say that Bahrain/Canada have been the only good races, Yet I disagree I think they have all been great.
Every race has featured a lot of overtakes, A lot of close racing, Good scraps for position & some drama.

I hear people moan about how its all boring & wonder if we have been watching the same thing because there comments on the race don’t match up with what I saw going on.

I think people have just brought into all the nonsence from people like Bernie & LDM about the engines been bad, the sound been bad & how everyone is doing extreme fuel saving so they believe that to be true & just complain without actually paying proper attention & figuring out that none of those ‘issues’ are actually issues.

The fact that people still seem to believe that F1 was at any point in the past about flat out racing with no fuel/tyre/car saving/management just shows how little some people have actually been paying attention over the years.

F1 2014 has been pretty much how every other season has been, But with better racing & a better spectacle to watch than what we have had more recently.

Oh and anyone who thinks the WEC is about flat out racing clearly missed the races so far & the practice/qualifying at Le mans this week which featured a lot of lift & coast to save fuel & manage tyres. Just watch the in-car camera shots over the race this weekend & you will see the always ‘flat out’ comment is utter nonsence.

@PeterG
I agree with @bascb when he said that Ferrari are whining because they’re not winning, i say that LDM uses the issues of the current regulations as a reason in order to change, that’s obvious. But i disagree with you when you say that the racing has been great at every race. The races in Canada and Bahrain which featured some great battles were good but that was mainly due to the safety car, the drivers were able to push and forget the nightmare of fuel saving, the rest of the races were extremely boring.

It’s true that the drivers have to drive cars with less downforce, more torque and harder tyres, and that F1 has been always about managing tyres, engines, gearbox, fuel,….. the difference is that nowadays the drivers have zero input in those areas. torques,throttle,brakes,ERS,Turbo,Power,fuel…. are controlled by millions of lines of source codes written by the team’s software engineers.

For example when Turbo was introduced in F1 Gilles Villeneuve was the first to adapt to it when he invented the left foot braking in order to keep his right foot on the throttle to reduce turbo lag, Ayrton Senna when he joined Lotus, when doing his flying laps in qualifying was using the boost instead of the throttle to make the corners in order to preserve his rear tyres from the excess of torque, Alain Prost was named the professor for his ability to preserve his car to the last millimeter and for his tactical intelligence when he was involved in race battles, that’s impressive staff !!!!

A lot of overtaking means nothing with the current regulations, with DRS and the ERS available for almost the whole race, it’s absolutely artificial, at least last year when the KERS was available for 6s smart drivers like Fernando Alonso could use it in an efficient way (Spain 2013 start, Spa 2013 vs Lewis Hamilton) . BTW as F1 fan i don’t care if there is no overtaking maneuvers in the race as long as drivers are racing each other to the absolute limit, in the 70s/80s grandstands were full of people watching races that featured less overtaking and they were cheering after the checkered flag sometimes for the less than half the cars that started the race.

“the difference is that nowadays the drivers have zero input in those areas. torques,throttle,brakes,ERS,Turbo,Power,fuel…. are controlled by millions of lines of source codes written by the team’s software engineers. ”

If that were the case then you wouldn’t have examples this year of big variables in fuel/tyre use between team mates.

Nico Rosberg for instance always tends to use more fuel than Hamilton because Hamilton is better as maintaining lap times while saving fuel via lift & coast & how he carries the speed through the corners.

Also look at Montreal, Hamilton was running more rear brake bias than Rosberg & that may well have played a role in his rear brake failure. We heard during the race that Nico was told Lewis was more rearward & that he needed to adapt to save rear brakes.

Yes there is a lot more electronics to help the drivers but A lot of the fuel/tyre/car management is still down to the drivers.

Di Montezemolo complains that there is too much fuel and tyre saving, so he will quit F1 and go endurance racing. That sounds a little ironic to me.

I can understand his frustration at having a rubbish engine in a period of engine-freezing, but unfortunately it seems these days the only way to control costs is homologation and ultra-restrictive design rules.

@adrianmorse
The cost cutting crap is just a political jargon used by Mr Todt & the rest of the guys at the FIA for political reasons. I give you an example, building a powerful V10 engine that can last only for 2 races without worrying about reliability is far less expensive than the current power units but unlike the current V6 power units the V10 engines will not attract new manufacturers, as simple as that.
Mercedes (Ross Brawn was behind the idea) which is over spending all the completion (even RBR & Ferrari) used its political power and threatened to quit F1 in order to obtain an advantage with the new regs, and that what happened. People now are speaking about how Mercedes are very strong in the hybrid area, but in fact the real advantage that Mercedes has, is pure mechanic (the separation of the Turbo and the Compressor), they knew that their engine department which counts twice the number of stuff that Ferrari has could do the job.
The thing is that the FIA wants to reintroduce the active suspension technology in order to seduce more manufacturer (like BMW) which use that technology in their road cars to enter the sport and the reason is always cost cutting

All this whining and moaning about the season, how about those seasons when either Seb or Michael disappeared into the distance and we were left watching a few drivers scrap over 2nd, I don’t hear many people moaning about the year Prost and Senna won nearly every race, no we talk about the fantastic duel and how they rose above everybody, well savour the battle between Lewis and Nico, these seasons with the best car having two very evenly matched guys don’t come along very often. Monaco was a great Monaco, Bahrain was the best racing for years and Canada was…Canada !! I can’t wait for Spa and the races in Japan and Brazil could be absolutely humdingers. So it isn’t perfect, it never will be and as for Ferrari…well reminds me of the football chant, ‘you only sing when your winning, sing when your winning!’

We have this excellent battle shaping up in each race for third place (4 different constructors have taken at least one podium finish) and in turn we have a great battle for 2nd and for 4th in the Constructors’ table.

We also have Marussia being considerably closer to the rest of the pack than before, and at times Bianchi has been ahead of one or both Saubers.

We also have the resurgence of Lotus, as they take on Toro Rosso for 8th place.

But most of all, we still have unpredictability. I mean, how many people have had a ‘perfect score’ in the predictions championship so far? Not too many that I can recall.

Almost a statement of the obvious with regards to the headline. Vettel above all else will know that, and will (as characterises him) be working very long shifts beside the engineers to try and figure out where they can improve and where he can improve.

I still expect him to win at least one race this year – Singapore perhaps or Japan the most likely destinations